Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Happy Birthday Jack!

We celebrated Jack's 7th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese Monday night. Now, I know what you're thinking. Screaming kids, loud music, etc. They even play music in the bathrooms. There's nothing like the Chuck E. Cheese band covering "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train 26 times in one evening. But, actually, it was quite enjoyable. It wasn't that crowded. There were only about 325 kids there. Only kidding. Mondays are their least busiest night. And, I got rid of all the tokens! But, more on that later.

Thanks to all who came to celebrate along with us. Especially the two school teachers who had just endured a long rainy day stuck inside with their own kids. Jack had a great time and I think the adults did too.

Now about those tokens. I have this desire, some would say obsession, with getting rid of all the tokens and not having to take them home. It's just more clutter and then we'd have to remember to bring them the next time (cause you know there's going to be a next time) and then they just keep accumulating and ... you get the picture.

So, as Jack continued to play, I quietly played along side, generously handing out tokens to anyone who wanted to join in and when it was time to go, we had to my great joy, completely exhausted the supply of tokens! Yipee! So, then we got in line to feed the 800 tickets into the ticket-eating machine which spits out a little piece of paper that says you had 800 tickets. You then take it to the counter, stand in line again behind more kids all trying to figure out which toy they want. So, then Jack picks out a couple little plastic things with his 800 tickets and we turn to head back to the table. Then, this little manager, looked about 16, comes over and says "Hey little man. Did you have fun? Well, good. How about a couple more tokens to play a couple more games?"

I could see the headline now. "Local man strangles 16 year old Chuck E. Cheese manager"

So, Jack insists, of course, in using the tokens, which I readily agree to and we hoist him up on the merry-go- round for two spins. During the 2nd spin, a lady comes over with her 1 year old and places him on one of the horses. No problem. Right? Wrong. She says "Oh, do you mind? Here have a token." AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.